Candidates sit tight as wait continues in Durack

With vote counting continuing in Western Australia's north, it is still unclear how long it will take for the Durack electorate to be declared.

First-time Liberal Party candidate Melissa Price currently holds a 5,000 vote lead over the Nationals' Shane Van Styn.

It is the first time it has come down to a contest between two conservative candidates, after a 5 per cent swing against Labor's Darren Keogh.

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) says it could take up to a fortnight for the outcome to be decided beyond doubt.

Retired member Barry Haase says it would be premature for Ms Price to claim victory at this stage.

"It's a very close call and we watch carefully as those numbers emerge because nothing is in the bag yet but we remain very optimistic," he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Keogh has thanked his supporters.

He says he has told his Labor colleagues he plans to have another go in 2016.

"Well I've made my intensions clear," he said.

"Obviously I still have to go through the process, so it's not a given when the preselection process opens again.

"I will be equal with anyone else who chooses to put their hand up for Durack as well."

Greens' candidate Ian James says he will go back to farming in the Wheatbelt for now.

Mr James says issues like fracking have inspired him to consider putting his hand up again in 2016.

"Farming is my career and I've neglected that for a few weeks, so I'll get back to that immediately but there's a few issues that caught my attention and I'd like to devote a lot of time and effort to helping those people who feel the same way," he said.

Voting opportunities

Meanwhile, Elsia Archer, the president of the Liberal Party in Derby and president of the Shire of Derby-West Kimberley in WA's north, says she is disgusted with the way voting was handled in Durack.

Ms Archer says there were not enough voting opportunities for early voters or absentee voters in her area.

"The nearest place was Broome, you couldn't vote in Derby at all which was rather disgusting because there was a lot of people who wanted to do early votes and the other thing that was happening is in Fitzroy Crossing on Saturday, if you were out of the state you couldn't do an absentee vote," she said.